Mildred Gwendolyn Goodson Harris

Friday

Sep 6, 2013 at 2:00 AM

Mildred Gwendolyn Goodson Harris, 91, passed from this life on August 28, 2013, in Central Point, Ore. She was born January 15, 1922, in Okolona, Ark., to Samuel and Lillian Stewart. Mildred lived a full life and is now with her Savior, Jesus Christ.

Born and raised on a farm in southwestern Ark., she married John Mark Goodson December 21, 1940, at Grand Prairie, Dallas County, Texas. John and Mildred worked for a time as migrant fruit harvesters in the southern San Joaquin Valley of California, but settled in Glendale, Ore., when John found work at the Robert Dollar Lumber Company loading boxcars. Mildred kept house, sewed dresses for their growing family of five daughters, raised chickens, and grew an annual garden on the banks of Cow Creek which ran behind their house. During their years in Glendale, their fifth daughter and three sons were born. After the eldest daughter married and relocated to Medford, Ore., and the second daughter moved there as well to work and attend Southern Oregon College to become a teacher, the family moved to Central Point, Ore. Mildred soon began work as a cook at Bateman's Caf next to the Richfield Truck Stop on Highway 99 North, where she and two of her daughters also worked at various times. After many years there she eventually worked as a cook at a number of other Medford restaurants. She later began an informal childcare business which she did for a number of years. Her hobbies included gardening, sewing, raising chickens and spending time with her many children, grandchildren, great-grandchildren, and great-great grandchildren. Her husband, John Goodson, died in 1990. On August 5, 1995, she married Virgil Harris, a man whom the family had known for many years in Glendale, and who had also worked at Robert Dollar Lumber Company, and who had been a widower for a number of years. This marriage lasted for over 17 years and was a blessing to both Mildred and Virgil in their later years. Virgil passed away April 24, 2012.

Mildred's one surviving sister is Jean Cottriel of Grants Pass, Ore. She is survived by daughters, Virginia Bostwick, of Medford, Ore., Elizabeth Stansfield, of Grants Pass, Ore., Johnnie Sue Goodson of Central Point, Ore., Juanita Sturges of Anderson, Calif., and Mary Wedsted, of Medford, Ore.; one son, Jerry Goodson, of Central Point, Ore. She was preceded in death by sons, John Emuel, who passed just a few days before his mother, and LeRoy, who passed away during his early childhood, while the family was living in Glendale.

The funeral will be held at 2:00 p.m., September 7, 2013, at Emanuel Temple of Medford, 345 Mary Street. Rev. I.D. Bostwick, Jr., will officiate. Open casket viewing will be at 1:00 p.m., prior to the service. Funeral arrangements are being handled by Perl Funeral Home, Medford. Interment will follow the funeral service at Siskiyou Memorial Park, 2100 Siskiyou Blvd., Medford, OR. Memorial contributions may be made to Emanuel Temple of Medford, 345 Mary St, Medford, OR 97504.